Poverty and Inequality

Councils must set out rough sleeping strategies by 2019 or face government action, Brokenshire warns

10.12.18: All councils must publish detailed rough sleeping and homelessness strategies by winter 2019 or face government intervention if they fail to do so as part of the government’s new road-map to end rough sleeping by 2027. James Brokenshi...

Local government has been ‘gutted’ according to UN’s report on UK poverty

20.11.18: A United Nations report looking at poverty in the UK has identified cuts to local government as one of the many causes of poverty across the country. Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human ri...

Westminster council to ban supersize homes to make room for more affordable housing

14.11.18: Westminster City Council is to ban new supersized properties to free up space to build more affordable homes for “real people” as it sets out its 2040 vision for housing. The council said it would restrict new-build homes that e...

Social mobility of counties fettered by ‘outdated’ and unfair council funding system

31.10.18: An inquiry has found that the least socially mobile areas in England are counties, held back by “outdated” and “inequitable” council funding and the false idea that they are ‘well-off.’  These are th...

Equal pay protest sees 8,000 Glasgow council workers strike for two days

23.10.18: Glasgow council workers have staged one of the UK’s biggest strikes in a 48-hour protest against unequal pay for women, with hundreds of schools shutting down and home care services affected. An estimated 8,000 protesters have taken t...

Homeless action plan given £100m government boost

13.08.18: As many as 6,000 rough sleepers will receive specialist support in a new government scheme announced today. Supported by £100m in funding, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) will put the cash towards W...

Calls for reform of local and central government’s ‘challenging’ debt collection

04.07.18: A shocking new report from Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has revealed that 41% of those helped by the CAP who had owed money to the central of local government were “more likely to have considered suicide as a way out of debt.” ...

Bristol council accused of breaking its own pay pledge rules

28.06.18: Bristol City Council has been accused of breaking its own rules after spending £2m on senior interim staff. The council abides by a 10:1 voluntary pay pledge, which says that those on the highest salaries should not earn more than&nbs...

Half of children’s budget spent on 73,000 children in care

12.06.18: Almost three quarters of children’s services budgets are spent on those in severe need, a report published today has revealed. According to the research carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) for the Children’s Commis...

£30m for rough sleepers as charity claims homelessness can be ‘thing of the past’ in 10 years

11.06.18: The communities secretary James Brokenshire has pledged £30m in funding to boost immediate support for rough sleepers to help them into accommodation. A total of 83 areas will share the much-needed cash boost from Brokenshir...

Manchester given green light for council-owned company to support care leavers

06.06.18: Care leavers in Manchester will be given support and guidance under a new scheme approved by the council. A new company, wholly owned and operated by Manchester City Council, will be established to support care leavers. The city will be the fir...

Local authority’s enhanced powers ‘ripe for misuse’ for convicting hundreds of homeless, new figures show

21.05.18: People sleeping rough on Britain’s streets have been fined, given criminal records, or even imprisoned due to enhanced council powers to reduce homelessness. New figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request by the Guardian hav...

Norfolk tables council tax exemption for care leavers

16.05.18: Care leavers in Norfolk could soon be exempt from paying council tax. In a proposal to be discussed by councillors next week, Norfolk County Council’s children’s services committee will hear about the financial challenges faced by c...

Three ‘internationally-proven’ Housing First pilots set to kick off

11.05.18: Three areas in England will be given financial backing to pilot projects aimed at getting rough sleepers off the streets, the housing and communities secretary has confirmed. As previously revealed by PSE, the projects in the West Midlands, Liverp...

Home Office unable to monitor progress of modern slavery clampdown, PAC says

03.05.18: The Home Office has “no means of monitoring progress” of its anti-modern slavery crackdown or if it is achieving value for money, a chilling new report has found. The review, ordered by the Commons and released yesterday, claime...